Summary 1. Introduction 2. Serious games as Educational Tools 3. - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Summary

1. Introduction 2. Serious games as Educational Tools 3. The Design of the Serious Game 4. Final Remarks

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• 1. Introduction

Serious games  main objective other than mere entertainment Includes knowledge transmission to the player Motivation: challenges; reward systems Military Purposes Training of top Athletes Rehabilitation Education at Several Levels …

USE

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• 1. Introduction (cont.)

1789  first reference to simulation games: game similar to modern war games (Helwing) Later  improved by a military strategy scholar Only for fun  cannot be considered a serious game First serious game in the military context: Kriegsspiel  official training of the Prussian army (strategic and military capabilities) Twentieth century  improvement and gain of new characteristics  war games reproduce actual conditions of great historical battles

Serious Games Idea: Not New

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• 1. Introduction (cont.)

IntelliGym (hockey or basketball players)  to improve core competencies until recently could not be trained:

• Decision-making under pressure
• Running
• Peripheral vision
• Concentration
• Anticipation

Training of Athletes

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• 1. Introduction (cont.)

Neurogame therapy  patients with movements seriously compromised due a stroke Handcopter  Helicopter control to finger flexion and relaxation Rehabtimals Pro  physiotherapist analyzes the rotation angles captured, notes reconstructions of movements, watches video sessions (treatment control and management)

Rehabilitation and Physical Therapy

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• 1. Introduction (cont.)

Students accustomed to use:

• Social networks
• Collaborative online tools
• File shared storage tools

Traditional classes unattractive and not very motivating Teacher: take advantage of digital literacy of students  introduction of technological innovations (serious games)

Education Area

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Certain situations in the real world  problems of safety, cost, time… Eg: Real weapons to train militar strategies  high probability of an accident Solution: serious games (realistic and immersive)  as productive as reality Games in learning contexts: The Oregon Trail  realities of life of the pioneers of the nineteenth century settlers, in the Oregon Trail

• 2. Serious games as educational tools

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Math Blaster! (learn mathematical skills)  story of a rescue in a futuristic universe, which takes the player to Number Munchers (learn mathematical skills)  grid square with a numerical expression or word; player controls a green character (Muncher), avoiding deadly monsters

• 2. Serious games as educational tools (cont.)

Supercharged!  use the electromagnetism physics to load spaceship (a charged particle) and navigate through the three-dimensional space MyQuímica  drag chemical compounds of the periodic table to a test tube

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ActivChemistry  chemistry lab: allows performing experiences avoiding dangerous situations Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?  world geography, flags, coins … Castle of Puzzles (learn to program)  several challenges corresponding to studied subjects

• 2. Serious games as educational tools (cont.)

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Total Challenge  dynamic work environment  students become more involved in various activities and understand and consolidate knowledge Target group  children attending the first four years of school General Outline of the Game Most complex technical procedures difficult to execute by children  supported by tutors Goal: track and improve several cognitive abilities  necessary a system to monitor the developments and send the data for further analysis. Historical record  user/tutor must ensure the system is connected to a central database via Internet

• 3. The Design of the Serious Game

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Online mode:

• Required connection to Internet
• Required register the user in the official game website
• Help of a tutor may be necessary
• To play  after registration, user must enter the identification
• and the password

New level of competitiveness  greater motivation

• 3. The Design of the Serious Game (cont.)

Offline Mode: Most suitable:

• Training
• Device without Internet access
• Possibility to set all parameters of the game
• Player does not compete with others for rankings

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All data of each player sent to a central server Centralization  two functions:

• Access to all data for research purposes
• Access the results to analyze the evolution over time

Difficulty level related to:

• Response time
• Complexity of the contents
• Number of rounds for each game level

These parameters can be changed by the researchers to optimize them

• 3. The Design of the Serious Game (cont.)

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User Interface

• Simple
• Designed especially for children
• 3. The Design of the Serious Game (cont.)

Game control: three buttons (blue, yellow and red)

• Attached to keys or specific command
• Carry out actions identified on the screen (fast forward,

rewind and select)

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Voice aids (also written in text form)  facilitate understanding of all areas of the game

• Friendly and fun shades
• Motivational messages

Idea and Design Four main sections:

• Instructions  help for the correct use of the game
• Ranking  results of the top 10 played, by difficulty level
• Settings  to do login for the online mode; parameterize
• the offline mode; voice support
• Play  the game itself, three challenges.
• 3. The Design of the Serious Game (cont.)

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All challenges:

• Based on interactions with

images of different categories (transport, animals, and clothing)

• Test cognitive disorders: memory,

decision-making time, ability of

• bservation, association,

perception player…

• 3. The Design of the Serious Game (cont.)

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First challenge:

• Presented randomly three images
• Two images belong to the same category; the other belong

to a different category

• Goal: find the image outside the context of the others

This challenge test: ability of perception, decision-making, association and categorization

• 3. The Design of the Serious Game (cont.)

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Second challenge:

• Generated randomly three images of different

categories

• Period of observation  images shuffled  limited

time to reorganize them (initial order) This challenge test: ability of observation and memorization

• 3. The Design of the Serious Game (cont.)

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Third challenge :

• Generated randomly three images of different categories
• Presented one of these categories by means of sound and text
• Goal: select the image that corresponds to this category

This challenge test: categorization capacity and knowledge application

• 3. The Design of the Serious Game (cont.)

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Greater degree of difficulty  greater categories complexity (range from the general to the specific knowledge) Example:

• Easy level  general categories (transports,clothing, animals…)
• Difficult level  specific categories (as air, land, sea transports…)

Different degrees of difficulty  different response times Level of education required  Difficulty level:

• 1st grade  easy level
• 2nd or 3rd grade  medium level
• 4th grade  difficult level

Each correct answer has a fixed score of five points that is multiplied by the remaining time by the timer, which means that the quicker is the answer, the higher is the score.

• 3. The Design of the Serious Game (cont.)

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Each correct answer  fixed score of five points multiplied by the remaining time by the timer (quicker the answer  higher the score) Advance to the next challenge  minimum score (2/3 of the challenge total score in the worst conditions) Game ends  displayed one congratulatory message Player cannot complete the game  encouraged to play again (try to get a better score) Online mode  all the results obtained by level and by round sent to the remote server (response times, numbers of correct or incorrect responses and final result)

• 3. The Design of the Serious Game (cont.)

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• 3. The Design of the Serious Game (cont.)

VÍDEO

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• Notable efforts to make learning more enjoyable and more motivating
• Serious games  educational content and fun activities
• Formal education  rules imposed by adults, children obliged to give up what they want

Paradox of the serious game:

• Set of rules

But activity that:

• Stimulates competition
• Gives the feel of a space detached of norms and impositions
• Makes children to be in tune with the adults

Conditions for a more effective learning  maximize the construction of knowledge

• 4. Final Remarks

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• Serious game origin  not digital
• Currently  use of the potential of the new technologies Learning tool
• Competition, goals, rules, challenges, choices, and fantasy  motivation to facilitate learning
• All games discussed  high degrees of success
• 4. Final Remarks (cont.)

We expect:

• More and more sophisticated serious games  More satisfactory results
• Efficiency of education is a reality competitiveness patterns lead to excellence
• Total Challenge to be a successful tool in relation to the proposed objective

No statistical results  future work

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Thank You!

Vítor Carvalho (vcarvalho@ipca.pt)

This work has been supported by FCT – Fundac̨āo para a Ciẽncia e Tecnologia within the Project Scope: PEst- OE/EEI/UI0319/2014